By the Queen’s side for 73 years
In 1938, Philip enrolled at the Royal Naval college in Dartmouth. More handsome than ever in his uniform, the young Prince had his pick of English society’s most beautiful debutantes.
But it was in 1939 that Philip was put in charge of entertaining his distant cousins, Elizabeth and Margaret, the young princesses, as they visited the college. They had met before at family occasions, but it is at this meeting it’s believed that, at the age of just 13, Elizabeth was smitten and vowed never to settle for another man.
They wrote to each other – but with a war to win, Philip was posted first to Ceylon (the former name for Sri Lanka), away from direct action as the British government did not want a Greek Prince to be killed on a Royal Navy Ship. But when Italy invaded Greece, Philip joined the fight in earnest, serving as a midshipman at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941, where he was remembered as ‘courageous and resourceful’.
It was Christmas 1943, with ‘nowhere particular to go’ Philip went with his cousin David Milford Haven to stay at Windsor Castle. Princess Elizabeth was now 17, and according to her governess Marion Crawford was animated in a way ‘none of us had ever seen before’. The weekend of dancing, films and
games marked a turning point.
When Philip eventually proposed – at Balmoral in 1946 – Elizabeth said yes straight away without consulting her parents. They were not keen, although they liked Philip, ‘foreign’ marriages were viewed with caution so the King asked them to wait until Elizabeth turned 21 in April 1947 – that July their engagement was officially announced. Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted to Anglicanism and took his mother’s maiden name, Mountbatten.
His marriage would be a fresh start – away from his troubled family. His father died penniless in Monaco in 1944, his sisters were all married to Germans so relations were obviously strained. When the world watched Philip and Elizabeth marry at Westminster Abbey in November 1947, his mother was the only member of his immediate family to attend. As a wedding present,
Philip gave Elizabeth a lavish diamond bracelet made from gems taken from a tiara that had belonged to his mother. Radiant in white satin, Elizabeth had never looked more beautiful and her handsome groom, in his naval uniform, cut quite a dash.
Philip was given the title ‘Duke of Edinburgh’ and now had a home and family of his own.
Shortly after their marriage, Elizabeth wrote to her parents ‘Philip is an angel. We behave as though we had belonged to each other for years.’ He was just as smitten, saying, ‘She is the only thing in the world which is absolutely real to me.’ In 1948, their first child, Charles, was born, followed by a sister, Anne, in 1950. When Philip was posted to Malta, the young family all went, spending years that were said to be the happiest of their marriage. But, of course, life changed with the death of King George VI, on 6 February 1952, and the Coronation a year later. Philip and Elizabeth embarked on a six-month tour of the Commonwealth, leaving the children behind. The next two Royal babies, Andrew and Edward, did not arrive till 1960 and 1964, but after all, Elizabeth was rather busy being Queen.
‘Foreign’ marriages were viewed with caution